“Murky, silty and black as your hat. Chocolate and coffee flood the palate. Toasted malts are the heroes, with noble hop aroma and spice filling in around the edges. Oozing with creme this smooth Porter is perfect for quaffs on the river. Or in it.”
Served in a snifter. Pouring a relatively impenetrable black colour with a short tan head over the top. Seeing some spotty and slightly wet lacing as it ebbs.
The aroma offers some pretty decent depth. We’re picking up lighter scents of milk chocolate, cocoa powder, cherry, toasty malt and mild coffee but it gets its real depth with subtle notes of peat, licorice and molasses. Quite the surprise package actually, with low ABV (5.2%) and no feature additions it presents as a pretty solid traditional porter.
The flavour profile follows the nose with light toasty malts and milk chocolate that moves in to a delicate coffee note backed up by a soft hop bitterness in the middle. The finish is nice and roasty with a touch of dryness in the tail.
The mouth feel is well balanced between the smooth silky malts and the dry bitter hops. Just the right amount of carbonation to give it that lift. Medium body. Quite the sessional porter we have in front of us.
Very much in the conventional style. Very well balanced and sessional which isn’t easy to achieve with dark beers. Good thing we picked up a six pack then! Firm offering from Newstead here.